souna no miko
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all original characters mentioned in this story is owned by the great Takeuchi Naoko. There is no way I would claim them as my own. The song/s that will be used as part of the story are not mine either, they are owned by their respective writers and singers.
Chapter 5 (part 2)
Haunted by the Past
Everybody was immediately told to calm down and was directed to go through the underground tunnels for them to reach a safer place. Princess Serenity and Princess Persephone were immediately brought to a secured chamber. The inner soldiers stayed inside with Luna creating a barrier protecting the whole room while Princess Persephone's four guardians guarded the door from outside. Prince Endymion and his four generals together with Artemis and Queen Serenity stayed in the throne room while the outer soldiers went to their stations outside the palace except for Sailor Saturn who stayed behind to create a barrier for the whole palace.
Inside the chamber, Princess Persephone paced around the room worriedly. She was worried of her post, her brother, of the other soldiers and of the man she loves.
"Calm down Persephone, they would never get near you. You're safe here." Sailor Jupiter assured her.
"That's the least of my worries Jupiter, I couldn't care less about myself right now. I'm a soldier and my station is unguarded, I have to go there!" Princess Persephone replied.
"But you mustn't! You'll get killed out there! You're the one they're after!" Princess Serenity exclaimed as she held her bestfriend's hands.
"I'm sorry." was the Earth princess' only reply to her crying friend.
Slowly she slipped her hand from Serenity's grip and transformed. She then raised her rod and said with a smile,
"Please tell my bother that I love him so much."
With that, she teleported to her station, the eastern gate.
"What should we do Serenity?" Sailor Venus asked.
"I don't know...I just hope that she won't be harmed." Princess Serenity replied as the other soldiers just bowed their heads.
When Sailor Earth got to her post, a youkai was already able to go through the barrier made by Sailor Saturn. She immediately used her powers and soon almost half of the youkais were defeated. Meanwhile, at the southern gate, Sailor Uranus felt Earth's energy.
'Damn that Earth princess. What the hell is she thinking going to her station? She'll get herself killed damn it!' Uranus told herself as she continued to blast the youkais surrounding her. 'I shouldn't think of her. If she gets killed, I don't care.'
Sailor Earth finished the lives of the remaining youkais and just stood there with satisfaction written on her face but Akashtra appeared behind her and blasted her with a power ball. She managed to stand up but she was badly hurt.
"Oh stop fighting it princess and just give me the crystal. I might even spare your life and make you one of my generals." Queen Akashtra said as she laughed.
"NO! I shall only serve one Queen other than Queen Serenity and that is Neo Queen Serenity!" Sailor Earth exclaimed as she hurled a gravity ball at Akashtra.
Akashtra evaded the energy ball with ease, smirked and said,
"How sure are you that that pesky little moon princess of yours would actually see the day she would be crowned as the new queen? I don't think so!"
Akashtra blasted her again and again and every time she gets weaker. At the northern gate Sailor Pluto sensed Earth's energy deteriorating,
"Dead Scream." Sailor Pluto whispered as she erased half of the youkais in existence. 'Hang on Earth, hang on. I'll be there.'
At the western gate, Sailor Neptune felt the same thing,
"Deep Submerge!" Sailor Neptune exclaimed as she kept the other youkais from getting close as she kept on repeating to herself, 'Alexis, help her. Don't let anything happen to her.'
At the southern gate,
'No I won't help her. She's not supposed to be here, she's not supposed to be here!' Sailor Uranus told herself as she continued to battle the remaining youkais.
"World Shaken!"
Inside the palace, Prince Endymion fell on his knees clutching his chest.
"What is it your highness?" Nephrite asked as he helped his prince to his feet.
"Something bad is happening. Where is Persephone?" Prince Endymion asked.
At that moment Princess Serenity, the inner soldiers, Luna and Persephone's four guardians came into the throne room. Zoiste, realizing that Princess Persephone is not with them looked at the four guardians and asked,
"Where is she?"
The four guardians looked away as Princess Serenity stepped up to answer his question,
"She went to her station. They were guarding the door from the outside so they didn't know. I tried to stop her but…."
Princess Serenity broke down in tears before she could even finish. Prince Endymion walked towards her and pulled her into a secure embrace.
"Don't cry my love; it's not your fault."
Then he turned to his generals and said,
"I have to go; I have to bring her back."
Queen Serenity stepped forward and said,
"No, you mustn't. You, your four generals and four guardians are guests and therefore it is our duty to protect you."
"But your highness…" Prince Endymion protested.
"No buts Endymion. Venus, Mercury!" Queen Serenity called.
The two soldiers stepped forward and kneeled down as the Queen of the white moon gave them their orders.
"Go and retrieve Sailor Earth."
The two inner soldiers bowed in respect and left.
At the eastern gate, Sailor Earth can no longer move and was just lying on the ground.
"Give it up Princess; you'll never win against me!"
Sailor earth tried her best to stand up but she can no longer do anything. Queen Akashtra prepared a huge power ball to serve as her final attack when all of a sudden Sailor Venus and Sailor Mercury arrived.
"Venus love and beauty shock!"
"It's no use goddess of love and beauty! Your precious little earth Princess is dying and when that happens, the celestial crystal will be mine and so will the celestial palace!" Queen Akashtra exclaimed as she was avoided Venus' attack.
"What's her status?" Sailor Venus asked Sailor Mercury who was already making calculations with her compact computer.
"Heart rate's dropping, other vital signs are critical. Venus, if we don't bring her back to the palace she will…" Sailor Mercury didn't continue her sentence as she looked away from Sailor Venus.
"Where are the others?"
"They're near, just finishing of a few more youkais, wait…that's odd…"
"Why? What's odd?"
"According to my computer the southern gate, is already free of youkais. The soldier assigned in that post is standing just half a mile from here."
"What do you mean?"
"The red dots represent the body signature of the youkais while the blue dot represents the soldier."
"Let me see that."
Sailor Venus grabbed the compact computer from Sailor Mercury and saw that the southern gate is in fact free of youkais and yet the soldier in charge of the southern gate is not rushing to their aid.
"Whose position is that?" Sailor Venus asked.
"…"
"Whose position is that?!" Sailor Venus demanded.
"Uranus'" Sailor Mercury replied.
Before Sailor Venus could react Queen Akashtra threw another power ball at them. Surprisingly, it did not hit them. When they looked up, they saw Sailor Earth's 'Fate's rod' creating a thick barrier of ice. They also saw her standing with a smile on her face.
"No Earth! Don't do it!" Sailor Mercury exclaimed.
Sailor Pluto and Sailor Neptune arrived but they too were surrounded by Sailor Earth's barrier. With the barrier preventing them to come out of it, the four of them watched as Sailor Earth push her self to the limits.
Meanwhile at the southern gate, Sailor Uranus was standing among the bodies of the youkais she killed, but she was fighting a different battle, a battle that she can't seem to win, a battle with herself.
'I hate her. I won't help her, why should I anyway? She's a brat and that's what she gets for going out to her station…but still…' There was a long silence within her self as she continued fighting her own feelings for the woman she loved the first day she saw her in the palace gardens.
Sailor Earth was blasted away once again, this time she can't stand up and she can no longer hold the barrier protecting her friends. The four soldiers immediately attacked Queen Akashtra only to fail over and over again until they were blasted far from Sailor Earth, far enough for Queen Akashtra to get to her and lift her by the hair.
Finally, at the southern gate, Sailor Uranus' other self won the battle saying,
'She's the love of my life no matter how much I deny it, ever since the first time I saw her in the palace garden. I love her and I'll protect her. That's right; I'll be her knight in shining armor.'
Sailor Uranus raised her hand in the air and teleported to the eastern gate.
When she got there she saw the other soldiers limping from Queen Akashtra's attacks. When she turned around she saw the evil queen holding her beloved Earth princess by the hair. She ran towards them but Queen Akashtra hurled a big power ball towards Sailor Earth. Her body was thrown just a few feet from Sailor Uranus.
Sailor Uranus slowly approached her as tears slowly fell from her eyes. There lay in front of her the lifeless body of the woman she loves as Prince Alexis. She cradled her in her arms but soon, Sailor Earth's body slowly faded away.
"No, please no. Not yet, hang on Persephone; don't die on me like this. I love you, please hold on, and don't give up!" Sailor Uranus kept on saying over and over.
Sailor Earth opened her eyes slowly and smiled at the sight of Sailor Uranus. She tried to move her hand to touch Uranus' face but after a few moments later, infront of Sailor Venus, Pluto, Neptune and Uranus, Sailor Earth's body disappeared.
The evil queen laughed to her heart's content and this made Sailor Uranus angrier. Sailor Uranus stood up, brought out her sword talisman and said,
"You didn't give me any chance to tell her what I have to and to ask for forgiveness for not getting here earlier. You'll pay dearly for that. Neptune!"
"Huh?" Sailor Neptune was still in shock when Sailor Uranus called her attention.
"Help me with this, for Persephone, Space Sword Blast!"
'For a friend.' Sailor Neptune told her self as she brought out the mirror talisman and shouted,
"Submarine Reflection!"
Queen Akashtra, who was unaware of what the two soldiers did took the hit and was taken aback. Then the three other soldiers started attacking at the same time until the evil queen got weaker. Sailor Mercury created a small magical ball that contained the evil queen. Sailor Uranus picked up the 'Fate's rod' as they all went back to the palace with a heavy heart.
Sailor Venus reported everything, including Sailor Uranus' lack of better judgment. However, she did still save Uranus by lying and saying that the number of youkais in her station caused her delayed arrival.
Princess Serenity dropped on her knees and cried inconsolably, even Prince Endymion, who refused to cry when their parents died, was not able to hold back his tears this time and allowed himself to cry. Everybody grieved for the death of a comrade, a friend, a sister, a princess, a soldier...a love. Prince Alexis presented Sailor Earth's 'Fate's rod' to Prince Endymion. Then he went out into the garden and went to the place he first saw her beautiful smile.
'How could have I left you to die Persephone? It's all my fault, I'm so sorry!' Prince Alexis told himself. "I could have saved you...if only I wasn't so stupid" he whispered to no one in particular.
Tears flowed freely from his eyes, unashamed of what others might think of him. Then he felt a warm comforting hand on his shoulder, it was Princess Trista.
"Stop blaming yourself Alexis. It's not your fault alone. We also carry some of the guilt, so don't be too hard on your self."
"I was right, you did commit a mistake. If only you lowered your pride." Princess Hannah said as she walked from behind him and stood by his right side.
Prince Alexis quickly turned to Princess Trista and said,
"You hold the key to the gate of time, right Trista? Open it for me; I'll go back in time. I promise I'll do it right this time. I swear I will."
Princess Trista shook her head slowly and replied,
"I'm sorry Alexis but it doesn't work that way. If you return and change what has happened. Who knows how greatly it will affect all of us? It could change our present and our future as well."
Prince Alexis looked away said,
"It's better than a future without Persephone."
Princess Michelle who just came out into the garden heard what Prince Alexis said. She approached him and slapped him on the face, with teary eyes she said,
"You should've thought of that before!"
"Calm down Michelle, hurting him won't do any good.....anymore." Princess Trista said as she pulled Princess Michelle away.
"She has feelings for you but you never did anything! You continuously pushed her away but she never did give up.....Persephone...she was....she was in love with you...she was in love with a cold-hearted prince and now she's gone, my bestfriend is gone because of that cold heart of yours and that stupid pride." Princess Michelle said as tears flowed down her reddened eyes.
At that moment Haruka woke up in a cold sweat and he breathed heavily. He sat up and held his head in horror. Michiru, who was awakened by him sat up opened the lamp and asked,
"Are you okay Haruka?"
Haruka lifted his head, stared into the night and said,
"I'm haunted by my past."
Tsuzuku…